2006-07 Off to a Great Start!

The new school year is up and running now and we have enjoyed a great start! With our Phase IV construction project coming to a close, we are able to now utilize the new classrooms added to our high school/middle grades side of the building including the state of the art agri-science classrooms and the new middle grades television production studio. Furthermore, the campus has been very busy and exciting places lately as the students and the community enjoy our new site work additions like new tennis courts, new soccer fields, a new elementary courtyard, and new football lighting.

The work of the district is well underway, as we focus on specific one-year priorities under each one of our five district goals. These priorities have been developed to assist us in focusing on those things that are of key importance to the mission of the district. The board, the administration, and the staff as a whole have been thoughtful in defining what those priorities mean in terms of our daily efforts with the students and the community. I am very proud of the faculty and staff who are dedicated to the best interests of our students and are committed to do what it takes in our quest for excellence.

In addition to our district goals, there are two themes that will guide our work this year and for the foreseeable future. The first theme is one of collaboration. We recognize the need to reach out to our community and strengthen current relationships while building new ones. In the weeks and months ahead, our school district will attempt to collaborate with businesses, local municipalities, and even other school districts. Endeavors such as the newly announced school consortium will allow us to network and game plan with other school districts who recognize the value and promise of evaluating shared services.

A second theme is one of advanced planning. In times when the future is not as predictable as it once was, we must challenge ourselves to use all the sources of information available to us to develop well-thought out plans for success. We will be seeking out ideas and input from multiple sources and the incorporating the best of this input into plans that meet the needs of our students and our community. Perhaps nowhere will this be more evident than in the are of budget planning where we have been holding meetings since last spring to address the proposed 2007-08 budget.

In fact, we will be taking the budget talk to the school community in the month of October when we conduct three community-based Budget Listening Sessions. All community residents are encouraged to come out and share your thoughts. These sessions are to listen to what residents think about the school program(s) and the budget that supports them. We will use what we hear along with faculty/staff ideas to assist us in developing the financial spending plan for the next year.

Thank you for visiting our school’s web page and taking the time to read this message. All of us in the Chautauqua Lake Central School District are dedicated to delivering a high quality education. We believe we have an outstanding school district based both on the tangible data that all districts are measured by and intangible characteristics that most frequently define a high caliber educational experience. We are prepared to meet the challenges of the future and also prepared to embrace accountability to make us better than we already are.

Sincerely,

Benjamin B. Spitzer, Superintendent